It is no surprise that Apple News app proved successful after it was pre-installed on IOS devices and Mac, and now over 85 million readers in the three areas where it is available. Equally surprising: Apple is once again upset by news organizations with a plan to cut back on subscription revenues and provide too little data on subscribers.

The company has been expected to offer a subscription level in the News app for about a year. After purchasing a subscription service called Texture in March, Apple executives suggested they want something to announce around the same time this year. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple will be awarding its "Netflix for news", the all-you-read subscription service of about $ 1

0 per month, and keep around half of its revenue for itself. The remaining $ 5 will be split by publishers based on "the amount of time users spend engaging with their articles," and Apple won't likely share subscriber data with the publications.

If this sounds like a double or triple deja vu case, that's because the same basic story has been played several times since 2010, when the iPad was first placed as a potential rescuer for the shutdown news industry. Last December, Bloomberg reported in December that Apple was planning to keep Texture's engagement-based revenue-sharing system, but told publishers that an increased number of subscribers would increase their revenue.

Prior to that, Apple ate an iOS initiative called Kiosk that cured newspaper and magazine apps into a special folder so they could sell recurring subscriptions – with 30 percent cut to Apple. Despite some success, kiosks were collapsed as publishers continued to complain about everything from revenue sharing and subscriber data sharing to the limited visibility their apps had in the folder.

As unfortunate as the new 50 percent revenue slice sounds on the surface, it is even more problematic for news companies who have recently seen lookups in their own publications their subscriptions. It is unclear whether Apple's tens of millions of readers – or more specifically, the smaller pool of paid subscribers, allows users to escape each publication's $ 10 to $ 39 monthly subscription in favor of a shared $ 10 fee. This can lead to mass errors from some publications.

– will actually spend enough time with a publication content to make this worth somebody's time. It is also uncertain whether users will be freed from banner ads while viewing subscription content, as these ads may provide additional revenue to publishers.

Currently, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have all been denied offering their content to the subscription service. But as has been the case before, money speaks, and if revenue sharing and other terms are made more favorable, Apple may be able to get the heaviest hitters on board before launching the service. It is expected to take place once or shortly after March.